Neo-natal wards and emergency rooms in a northern Syrian hospital will from Tuesday have uninterrupted electricity for the first time in years thanks to new solar panels, a charity said. Hospitals in rebel-controlled Syrian territory face life-threatening power outages due to air strikes or shortages of the precious fuel used for their generators.
The Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations (UOSSM) hopes their new solar project can circumvent both challenges. The UOSSM has installed 480 solar panels at a large hospital in opposition-controlled territory in northern Syria since December, it said, and the project officially went online on Tuesday. The medical charity declined to specify the hospital's location out of fear it would be targeted by bombardment.
"Our goal was to install a solar energy system that can provide clean, reliable and low-cost energy to Syrian emergency hospitals," said Tarek Makdissi, who directs UOSSM's Syria Solar project. "Patients in this hospital should never be hurt again because of a power cut," said Makdissi. The World Health Organisation has called Syria the world's most dangerous place for health workers, and hundreds of medical facilities have been destroyed in the six-year war.